The World Poker Tour (WPT) announced last week that it had added a second France stop to the 2010-2011 schedule, its ninth season. WPT Amneville will start on October 30th at Casino Municipal D’Amneville, with its €3,200 + €300 Main Event running from November 2nd to 6th.
Amneville is a small tourist town in northeast France with just under 10,000 residents. Located about 35 kilometers from the borders of both Germany and Luxembourg, it is home to a zoo that houses 1,600 animals and to SnowHall, one of the largest indoor ski slopes in the world.
“The Casino d’Amneville is located at the perfect crossroad for European players, with close proximity to Luxembourg, Germany, Belgium, and the Netherlands. We are delighted to welcome the World Poker Tour to Amneville for this unique French tournament,” said Christophe Schanne, General Manager of Casino Municipal D’Amneville, in a press release.
WPT Amneville joins the Grand Prix de Paris on the Season 9 schedule as the two stops in France. WPT Grand Prix de Paris, held at the venerable Aviation Club in Paris, returns after a three-season hiatus. For the first five seasons of the WPT, the Aviation Club – where Isabelle Mercier was once the poker room manager – was a premier venue on the tour. The first season, it was the home of the WPT Euro Finals of Poker, while the WPT Grand Prix de Paris took up residence there for the next four seasons. Some satellites for WPT Amneville will actually be held at the Aviation Club de France, as well as at the Grand Casino Basel in Basel, Switzerland.
The winner of WPT Amneville will receive a WPT bracelet and a $25,o00 seat in the WPT Championship at the Bellagio in Las Vegas. The 2010 WPT Championship is currently being contested and will run through April 24th. After Day 3, 35 of 195 players remain at four tables. Shawn “Buck21” Buchanan, champion of the WPT Mandalay Bay Poker Championship in 2007, is the current chip leader with 1,841,000 chips. His closest competitors are Heather Sue Mercer (1,364,000), Robert Cooper (937,000), Matt “All In At 420” Stout (919,500), and Billy Baxter (887,500). Other notables still alive include Faraz “The-Toilet” Jaka, Phil Hellmuth, David Williams, David Benyamine, Jason Lester, Carlos Mortensen, Scotty Nguyen, J.J. Liu, Cliff “JohnnyBax” Josephy, Eric “basebaldy” Baldwin, reigning WPT Championship winner Yevgeniy “Jovial Gent” Timoshenko, David “Devilfish” Ulliott, and Josh Arieh. Play will resume at Noon Pacific Time as players battle it out for the $1,530,537 first prize.
